The book defends the intimate connection between democracy and law by focusing on how democracy permits us to be co-authors of our common community through the use of law. It argues that democratically forged laws are articulate public commitments we make to one another and they are uniquely capable of conveying our mutual respect for one another. For this reason, democratic law is morally imperative and morally inspirational.

Seana Valentine Shiffrin is Professor of Philosophy and Pete Kameron Professor of Law and Social Justice at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of Speech Matters: On Morality, Lying, and the Law. Her research in law and philosophy explores theoretical and doctrinal questions about the social conditions necessary to realize equality and individual autonomy, addressing a wide range of topics including freedom of speech, contracts, promises, anti-discrimination, economic equality, negligence, procreation, and intellectual property.

• Acknowledgments


• List of Contributors


• Introduction - Hannah Ginsborg


• Democratic Law - Seana Valentine Shiffrin


• 1. Democratic Law


• 2. Democratic Law and the Erosion of Common Law


• 3. Constitutional Balancing and State Interests


• Comments


• 1. Democratic Law as Medium and Message - Niko Kolodny


• 2. Common Knowledge and Cheap Talk in Democratic Discourse and Law - Richard R. W. Brooks


• 3. Communication Through Law? - Anna Stilz


• Replies to Commentators - Seana Valentine Shiffrin